U18s suffer Norwich City setback

West Ham United's youngsters came up short as they went down to a 3-1 Barclays U18 Premier League Division Two defeat at Norwich City.

Declan Rice scored for the Hammers, but his fine finish was no more than a consolation as Norwich were three goals clear at the time of his 81st-minute strike.

Todd Cantwell had put the Canaries into a tenth-minute lead when he took advantage of some loose defending to fire a rising shot into the top right-hand corner.

Another defensive slip allowed Benny Ashley-Seal to race clear from just inside the West Ham half before converting confidently with his right foot four minutes before half-time.

A sweeping passing move down the Norwich right ended with winger Jamal Lewis cutting inside and sending a shot high inside the near post, giving goalkeeper Tim Brown no chance to make it 3-0 with just over 20 minutes remaining.

West Ham kept plugging away and were rewarded when Oscar Borg curled a free-kick to the far post, where a sliding Rice smashed the ball high into the net.

The U18s have a free weekend coming up, so the squad will travel to the Netherlands to take on AZ Alkmaar and Groningen in a pair of challenge matches.

U18s: T.Brown, Eggleton, Neufville, Sylvestre, Akinola, Rice, Borg, M.Browne (Longelo 73, Lewis 85), Powell, Hector-Ingram (Kanu 40), Carter